Curling up and burying her face into her pillow, Aimee shed a few tears suddenly very homesick. Why run after a murderer? She knew the answer, Christine's words were always in her head.
"He has a loving softer side ... He's been starved of the simple joys of life, laughter, love, compassion, and family."
Family, that word was constantly in her thoughts. What was a family? Mother, father, and child. If that was it then neither Aimee nor her brother had ever had a family. They were two children deprived of a mother's nurturing and a father's advice. Aimee, thankfully, had an aunt and uncle to do these things for her, but, she supposed, it still wasn't quite the same as being raised by the man and woman who created her. But at least she had known a form of a family, and knew what love was. Her dear, murdering brother was unwanted and therefore sent away, having to find some kind of family figure on his own. Madame Giry was there, but to Aimee it seemed he trusted his music more than the ballerina.
With a sigh and a sniffle, Aimee rolled over and stared at the gloomy room. She wanted to help him, and she wanted a family too.
Finally rising, knowing that feeling sorry for herself all day wasn't going to help anything, she cleaned herself up and dressed. As she braided her long hair, she couldn't help but notice a commotion outside her window. Peeking through the curtains, Aimee saw that the whole main street was clogged with banners, music, and people. It was that festival the two stagehands had spoke of. A sudden excitement overtook her, but nervousness and insecurity soon followed. She wouldn't know anyone there, and she probably really should continue on her search. But her stomach suddenly twisted as she thought of the lonely road. Perhaps she could just pass through the festival, and watch a little bit of the entertainment. She did need a break.
As soon as Aimee stepped onto the main street, her senses were bombarded. The colors of the banners, stalls, and small stages were bright and whimsical. The smell of all kinds of different foods made Aimee's stomach growl. The noises of music, singing, laughter, and the cries of unhappy spoiled children made her smile.
Now glad with her decision to come, Aimee first bought some delicious food to satisfy her hunger. Passing through the venders, she stopped to admire some elegant jewelry when something suddenly collided with her legs. Looking down, she saw a three or four year old boy, who had apparently fallen after hitting Aimee's legs, and was now searching for a familiar face. Only finding strangers, the young boy started to whimper. Aimee quickly knelt down to try and comfort the child, when not soon after she heard someone calling out a name. Looking back up, Aimee noticed a young woman with dirty blonde colored hair, brown eyes, and wearing a lively and flowing costume searching frantically.
"Sebastien! Sebastien?" she yelled.
"Excuse me miss! Is this Sebastien?" Aimee said to the girl, quickly standing.
The oddly dressed woman immediately same over and picked up the little boy, who held her tight.
"Oh my goodness, thank you so much! I thought he was gone for good this time. He's made a habit of running away from whoever is watching him," the girl explained.
"I see, I guess it was a good thing he ran into me," Aimee smiled, then she couldn't help but take another look at the colorful costume she wore.
"Oh," said the girl, noticing Aimee's gaze, "I'm a performer here with my family. This troublemaker is my cousin. I'm the dancer, Alice ... or, well, my mother was the dancer, but its being passed down to me since I'm her only daughter," she rambled, "Today's my first performance actually, and as you can see I'm nervous," she finished blushing.
"I'm sure you'll do just fine, don't be nervous. If your mother is a dancer then I'm sure it's in your blood. I'm Aimee by the way," she smiled.
"Pleasure to meet you Aimee, but I do need to go, the show is going to start soon."
"I'll come with you, I'd love to see your show."
"If you wish," Alice replied, beginning to walk in the direction of her family's stage, "but I don't know how good it will be with me in it," she sighed, shifting her little cousin in her arms.
"Aimee!"
The dark-haired girl suddenly turned to see who had called her name. To her surprise she saw Marc and Christopher waving and coming towards her.
"What a coincidence that we ran into you today!" Marc exclaimed.
"Right, coincidence," muttered Christopher, earning him a jab in the ribs.
"It's good to see you, I thought you would be working," she said.
"No, no one works during the festival," explained Christopher.
"I'll meet you at the stage, it's just over there," Alice pointed and Aimee nodded to her as she left.
"Who's your pretty friend?" asked Marc watching Alice walk away. Aimee couldn't help but giggle.
"It would seem his undying love for you just died," whispered Christopher as he glanced at the love struck Marc.
"Oh, I don't mind," she whispered back smiling, "Her name is Alice, she's a dancer, and her performance is about to start. Come, lets watch it together," she suggested beginning to walk away once more.
Though Alice might have labeled herself the worst dancer on Earth, Aimee and her stagehand friends thought she was the most graceful creature they've ever set their eyes on. She was dancing with a few others, but Alice definitely stood out and Mar couldn't take his eyes off her.
"I think I'm in love," he murmured receiving a snicker from Aimee, and a sigh from Christopher.
When it was over and Alice took her bow, the audience cheered loudest for her. She blushed a little and smiled shyly before heading backstage. The three companions hung around for awhile longer, wanting to personally congratulate the dancer on her wonderful performance. Once she resurfaced, wearing normal clothes, she smiled and came over to the three.
"Oh Alice, you danced beautifully! I've never seen anyone so graceful -"
"Or so breathtaking," Marc injected taking Alice's hand and kissing it. Alice was a bit dumbfounded at the compliment, but smiled a little, non-the-less.
"Don't mind Marc, Miss Alice, he always was the clumsy charmer," Christopher grinned.
"Oh," was all Alice could day, her head still swimming from the performance and now the charming young man in front of her.
"Marc don't frighten the girl, I'm sure she'd had a stressful morning," Aimee smiled, detaching Marc from the dancer, "Why don't I make some introductions? Alice, this is Christopher and his friend Marc. They are stagehands at the local Opera House."
Marc winced slightly at the lowly title, knowing that the pretty girl would never find him interesting now.
"Really? You're stagehands, at the Opera House?"
To his surprise, she actually sounded sincerely impressed. Marc grinned and nodded.
"My family and I have always dreamed of performing on a real stage in an Opera House!" she exclaimed dreamily.
"Not kidding? Hmm..." Marc pondered.
"No!" growled Christopher.
"What?"
"I know you're planning on getting her a part somehow. You know the director won't have it, and neither will I! I'm not risking my job - again. No offense Aimee."
"They tried getting you a part Aimee?" Alice asked curiously.
"Well, not exactly," she replied somewhat guiltily, lowering her eyes.
"Tell her Aimee, she might know something," suggested Marc, "Being a lovely performer and all," he smiled at her again, making her blush.
"Know something about what?" Alice was becoming very curious with this curious group.
"Well, I'm looking for my brother, but he loves to run and hide like your little cousin. But unlike your cousin he can cause much more damage, and sometimes does odd things," she explained.
Alice blinked a few times, trying to understand everything.
"He was that ghost that lived in our Opera House for awhile," Marc added.
Alice gasped at that, her eyes growing wide.
"Why look for someone like that?"
"He's my brother," Aimee said simply shrugging, "He's the only family I got left."
All three suddenly looked sympathetically at her. Alice quickly searched her memory for anything regarding the mystical man.
"Oh!" she made them jump, "of course, the church, it's not too far from here. Almost every night when everyone's gone, the organ plays."
"I guess he missed his organ. Is this tale true though?" Aimee asked.
"Yes, I ... I heard it once when my older cousin dared me to walk by the church at night. He wanted me to walk in too, but I couldn't. I was afraid I'd see a ghost or something else unpleasant, " she said blushing, embarrassing by her childish tale.
"I think you were brave for just going," proclaimed Marc.
"Thank you," she smiled, "And the music, it was so beautiful, but very haunted," she shivered.
"That's him," Aimee nodded, "can you take me there tonight Alice?" she asked hopefully.
"Well I -"
"I will not have two ladies wandering around alone at night. Christopher and I will accompany you," Marc bowed.
"We will?" Chistopher asked, looking at Marc like he had two heads.
"Yes we will," Marc replied suddenly pulling his friend aside, "Come on Chris, we can't let them go alone, and I really like Alice."
"You don't know her!" he retorted.
"And this will allow me to get closer to her. Please Chris, I need you in case something happens if we find this guy," Marc pleaded.
"Fine, but I'm only going for their safety," he said firmly.
Later in the evening, the four took a carriage to the church Alice spoke of. The church wasn't overbearingly large, nor was it tiny, but a medium size that made it approachable. Though, at the moment, none of the four friends wished to approach the building. It was dark and no one knew what to expect.
"I don't hear any music," observed Aimee slightly disappointed.
"Well he doesn't play every night, he could still be there," offered Alice.
"Why doesn't anyone try to catch him?" asked Christopher.
"He's just playing the organ at night in the church. No one feels that he's a large threat. And the priests wouldn't have it. They would rather have him left in peace than some mob coming to get him," Alice explained.
"Who should go in?" asked Marc, "I mean all four of us barging inmight upset his temper or something."
"Two of us should go in, and two out here watching should be fine, and I'm definitely going in," said Aimee though her courage shook.
"Me and Alice will stay here," Marc smiled glancing at Christopher.
"Oh no you don't," Christopher growled, "I came along because you said if we find Aimee's brother, you may need help incase something happened. You and I will go in, partner!"
"But I have to go in," proclaimed Aimee.
"And I'm not staying out here alone," shuddered Alice.
As the door to the church opened the four companions slowly peeked in and looked around for any sign of life. For the moment, there were none and all but Aimee sighed in relief. Entering the holy place, Aimee tried to peer through the smoky darkness. The church had probably more than a hundred candles, and only a few remained lit, while the smoke from the extinguished ones still floated about the air. As Aimee neared the organ, she looked for any clues that her brother had been there. She went to touch a few keys to see if they were warm from his passionate touch, but the ivory was cold. Accidentally playing one of the notes, Alice suddenly gasped and clung to Marc, who grinned with satisfaction.
"I don't think he's playing tonight Aimee," said Christopher glancing at the stained-glass windows.
Aimee sighed, she had missed him again. It was like one of those bad dreams where you were just out of reach of whatever it was you wanted. As she glanced around, something caught her eye in the shadows of the wall close to the organ. She slowly walked towards it ignoring Christopher's call of her name. Touching the rather rough surface on the wall Aimee realized that it was a small door. Finding the handle, she gave it a yank and it opened with a creak. Inside she saw stone steps lit by candles all the way down to another room. And if Aimee knew her brother, he'd be there.
"Aimee? What did you find?" asked Alice who was still clinging to Marc for dear life, and he, of course, put a protective arm around her.
"Perhaps, my brother," she replied without looking back, and quickly started down the stairs her friends hot on her heels.
Once downstairs, Aimee took a look around. It was just an empty room, probably used a long time ago for something. At the moment though, it was used as a home. Sadly, Aimee did not come upon her brother, but a blanket and a few sheets of music. Kneeling down, she gently picked up one of the sheets. The care that he seemed to put into every note and measure made Aimee smile.
"I'm sorry Aimee," whispered Marc.
"It's all right, I think I'm getting closer," she sighed.
"Look, he even got the newspaper," said Alice picking it up and handing it to Aimee.
Aimee glanced at it, but the words Opera Populaire caught her eye. Reading on, it said that the Opera House was not going to be destroyed, but left abandoned, and that (Aimee's eyes widened) the search for the Phantom was dying down, since all threat of him seemed to have disappeared.
"I need to go back," Aimee choked out.
"Go back? Where?" asked Alice concerned at the sudden change in her friend.
"What did it say?" Marc inquired taking the paper and trying to quickly read it.
"My friends, I thank you dearly for all your help. I'll try my best to stay in contact with you but I must go," she said while hugging them, and then quickly walking back upstairs.
As she almost ran out of the church, she was stopped by Alice calling her name.
"Aimee! Wait! Where are you going?"
For some reason she couldn't quite understand, Alice was smiling.
Aimee turned and smiled back at her friends who stood at the church door slightly amazing but oddly happy.
"Opera Populaire!" she cried waving.
A/N: Hello patient readers, I did not fall into the abyss, just into a heap of writer's block. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!